Another Trans Oil Temp Thread…

I just did a drive from Lincoln city OR to Redmond OR up through the cascade mountains (not towing from sea level to 4,200ft elevation ) and I woke my OBD fusion app half way up and was shocked to see my pan temp was 201’f and my torque converter was up at 227’f.

I was driving very tamely (wife and baby in the car) in D. Switched to S mode to control gears temps and all was fine after that. This has also happened on other big climbs before.

I’ve towed a 5klb TT some 15k miles and have never got the pan temp above 200’f due to watching the torque converter lockup status and driving appropriately and this is even on much bigger climbs and higher ambient temps.

I’ve seen charts about oil breakdown etc but i would love to know what Toyota considers “High” for trans oil temps? Especially as this drive was nothing out of the ordinary and I imagine 1000’s of Tacomas do a drive like this every day..

Anyone else get temps like this with normal driving through mountains?

 

This thing still have the trans cooler thermostat? I assume Toyota thinks that the trans temp needs to be higher than most people are comfortable with based on internet posts and previous vehicle configurations.

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/trans-temp.590848/

 

Yes, from experience i believe it’s set at 186’f.
In 15,000 miles of towing 5k I’ve successfully tried to always keep the pan lower than 200’f. I’m leaning towards this temp being absolutely fine.

The person you quoted seems a bit OTT “likes to keep his trans below 180’f” Likely doing more harm than good.

From a discussion on FB the trans high temp warning lamp could come on anywhere from 270’f to 307’f… apparently.

If the truck hits 200’f at the pan from doing a simple 4kft climb (not towing) with an OEM trans cooler I think I have nothing to worry about considering Toyota decided to remove the dedicated trans cooler altogether mid 2020.

How often do you hear 3rd gen owners complaining they need a transmission rebuild?